CONSPIRACY THEORIES THAT TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE

Conspiracy Theory Rating Scale

2007-03-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

This is just an idea of mine that's been bouncing around in my head for awhile: I've never seen any sort of objective rating system whereby a current conspiracy theory could be rated as to it's validity or possible truth. The hardest part in doing this would be setting up the criterion to apply for the rating. The actual ranking would go something like this:

5 = An event that has essentially been proven true, but initially was considered conspiracy theory (See the post "List of Proven Conspiracies" on the second page of this blog - I'd consider most of those a "5")

4 = An event that has a large body of circumstantial evidence to suggest that there is a strong liklihood that it is true, and that an "official version" of the story is probably not entirely true.

3 = An event that could go either way, something that has a lot of troubling unanswered questions, a lot of "loose ends" that haven't been adequately explained, but the "official version" could be just as valid - just a lot of unanswered questions. An event that in all liklihood needs "filling in the blanks". Many theories fall into this category - there just hasn't been enough research to tie everything together or adequately explain everything.

2 = An event that can, through use of such techniques as Occam's Razor, investigative reporting, a specialist's knowledge of science and/or engineering & physics, usually be successfully de-bunked. Usually scenarios in this category involved plots that seem a little too complicated or logically unlikely, and are sometimes based on assumptions that are false to begin with.

1 = An event or belief in something that can be very easily dismissed, even by those who have no more knowledge than the average person, using commonly held knowledge and common sense.

Using this scale, most of the conspiracies listed in the "List of Proven Conspiracies" would in my opinion be rated a "5".

An example of a "4" would be the conspiracy theory that the JFK assassination involved more than a single bullet, and possibly more than one shooter from different locations, and that it was the product of an elaborate conspiracy rather than a lone deranged nut firing a single shot from one location.

The conspiracy theory that states that the moon landings were staged and faked might get a 3 - some things have been debunked, but not others. The mysterious "disappearance" of the original videos of the landing is troubling too - they didn't disappear until lately when computerized digital video enhancement techniques became available. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Buzz Aldrin leaving a question and answer meeting in tears when asked to describe what it felt like to walk on the moon.... What was up with that anyway?

Example of a 2 would be something like the standard tinfoil hat thing, because we are supposedly the target of mind control - things like that.....

1's?? The Flat Earth Society, etc.

Will continue working on this to develop it..... Later.........

One argument against large scale conspiracies being true

2007-03-03T02:40:00.000-08:00

"The argument is often advanced that the non-existence of any given conspiracy is shown by the lack of leakers or whistle blowers. Given the success of the British government in getting thousands of people to keep the ULTRA secret -- and thereby ensuring that no reliable history of World War II could be published until the 1970s -- it is apparent that this is not necessarily a reliable indicator."

from Wikipedia - "conspiracy theory/real conspiracies"

Often the argument is advanced that a conspiracy on a grand scale is not possible because of a supposedly large number of people who would have to be in on the secret, and surely someone would "out" the conspiracy. It's been proven in the past that this is not necessarily true.

The best known example I can think of is the WWII "Manhattan Project", where thousands of people were working on developing the atomic bomb, but only a very small inner circle knew exactly what was being worked on. Everyone worked on their own little piece of the project, and was told only what they needed to know to complete their own task, and no more. Of course even this was kept secret as even small snippets of information could be valuable to the enemy, but it was possible to pull off a large project involving thousands of technicians without the cover being blown, at least to the general public anyway..... The Soviets found out about it because of their mole spy Klaus Fuchs, and others within our own government, but the general public was successfully kept in the dark about it.

Thoughts on why conspiracy theories exist

2007-02-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my own thoughts on why we have conspiracy theories and conspiratorialists:

Have you noticed that in the past decade or two, the amount of real, hard and factual investigative reporting has decreased? I have. Most of the "news" we get now is what could be considered "fluff". The runaway bride, Natalie Holloway in Aruba, the Scott Peterson murder case, etc. All stories reported constantly, and at great length in the national news media as national news stories. In reality, most of these stories are nothing more than lurid local crime stories - nothing of any real legitimate national interest. It's essentially "supermarket tabloid journalism" being carried into the mainstream national media. For every story such as these that are being reported, that much less investigative reporting is being done. I'm sure a lot of people would like to know more about what is going on within our government, what sort of relationships exist between government and Big Business, how vast and extensive the corruption in our government really is - none of which is being reported by the major news outlets anymore. It's almost like they've been bought off, or intimidated into keeping quiet.

My point here is that in the absense of any serious investigative reporting, conspirancy theories and theorists have appeared to fill the vacuum. I don't believe that it's a coincidence that the amount of conspiracy theories have seemed to increase with the corresponding decrease in investigative reporting. It's my belief that the two are related. Of course it's always fun to speculate, and many theories are what could be considered "way out" and not worthy of serious consideration. But just because some theories fall into this category, I don't believe that all conspiracy theories should be written off. Many past theories (as mentioned in this blog) have been proven to be true and factual - too many to write off all conspiracy theories as the ravings of the mentally unbalanced. Indeed, it has been suggested that those officials and VIPs who discount all conspiracy theories and theorists do so deliberately to hide agendas - a conspiracy theory in itself.

In light of the fact that news outlets don't really report real news anymore, conspiratorialists fill a vacuum by helping stimulate debate and investigation on topics that major news outlets are paid to ignore and keep quiet about. No, not all conspiracy theories turn out to be true - in fact many are easy to legitimately debunk - but enough of them have turned out to be true not to discount them entirely. And in the absence of investigative reporting by those who call themselves journalists, it has been left (mostly by default) to the rest of us out here to try to find the truth as best we can on our own.

Reporting Of Military 'Copter "Crashes"

2007-02-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Another example of official denials being later proven true:

I've noticed a pattern of reporting a while back that I've not seen anyone anywhere else comment on - it's been going on for a while now - concerning downed U.S. military aircraft in Iraq...... An airplane or helicopter goes down. It's initally reported as a "crash". Now I realize that a "crash" could be anything from a mechanical malfunction, to a case of pilot error, anything really. And I can understand being cautious about reporting until you have all the facts. Having said that though, it seems as if there is a deliberate effort to downplay any incidents involving downing of aircraft by enemy fire. When a downed aircraft is referred to as a "crash" I think most people assume that it's something other than by hostile fire. A recent example was a video shown on TV of a military troop transport helicopter that went down about a week ago - The video showed the helicopter rising and leveling off, then a big plume of smoke coming from it. The offical story for several days afterward was that it was likely mechanical problems. Finally it was admitted that it was shot down by enemy fire. I suppose it's in their best interests to initially downplay and deny, then admit later after the glare of the media spotlight has passed, and most people have forgotten about it. Then the report that it was actually shot down is almost an afterthought, gone unnoticed by the majority of people. I have yet to see this story reported on TV or newspapers - I came across it on the Net.......

Yet another example of official denial and later proven fact.......

Here's the story and link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021407K.shtml

US: Crashed Copter Was Shot Down in Iraq
By Kim Gamel
The Associated Press
Wednesday 14 February 2007

A Sea Knight helicopter that crashed last week northwest of Baghdad was shot down, the U.S. military said Wednesday, reversing earlier statements that it appeared to have been due to mechanical failure.
The Marine CH-46 troop transport went down northwest of Baghdad on Feb. 7, killing all seven people on board, and an al-Qaida-linked Sunni group claimed responsibility and aired a video.
Military officials initially said they believed the crash was due to mechanical failure, but the military announced Wednesday that an investigation showed the crash was "the result of anti-aircraft munitions."
"Initial evidence indicated that the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter went down as a result of mechanical failure. After further investigation using all available means, the cause of the incident has been confirmed to be hostile fire," said Maj. Jeff Pool, a spokesman for the Multi National Force - West.
The statement said the pilots of an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter escorting the Sea Knight did not witness the actual attack, but they saw the fire, descent and subsequent crash. The initial signs resembled fires that have occurred aboard CH-46s experiencing mechanical difficulties in the past, it added.
The military also said the crash site had been cleared with explosives after the remains and equipment were removed "to ensure the enemy could yield no gain from the debris."
At least seven U.S. helicopters have crashed or been forced down under hostile fire since Jan. 20. In the wake of the recent crashes, U.S. officials have said they were reviewing flight operations and tactics but maintain there is no evidence of sophisticated new weapons used in any of the latest attacks.
Wednesday's statement raised to five that were known to have been shot down. Two private security company helicopters also have crashed but the cause was unclear.
The military statement declined to comment on insurgents weapons' capabilities or tactics to counter them, citing security concerns.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these fallen service members," Pool said. "All available resources are dedicated to eliminating the threat to our aircraft so that we can continue to provide the support our ground forces."
The Islamic State in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iraqi insurgent groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter and issued an Internet video on Feb. 9 it said was proof. The group also claimed the recent downings of two other U.S. helicopters.
The two-minute video showed a helicopter that appears to be a Sea Knight flying. An object trailing smoke is seen in the sky nearby, then the craft bursts into orange and red flames, with a spray of debris emerging from it.

Senator Joe McCarthy Charges Proven Correct

2007-01-16T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here's something I've not seen mentioned by anyone in their lists of conspiracy theories that were eventually proven to be factual and correct: The vindication of the late Sen. Joesph McCarthy of Wisconsin. It turns out that most of the charges he made, many of which were dismissed at the time as "a witch hunt", and "slander that ended people's careers", turned out to actually be essentially true:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17401

Some other comments on "McCarthyism" and McCarthy having been proven right:

http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg022603.asp
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1439582/posts
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A343_0_2_0_C/

The Venona Project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_Cables

So IOW when he was waving his famous "list" he was actually on to something and basically had it right. From what I understand, the guy was no saint - he had his personal flaws - reportedly drank a lot, and by the accounts I've read, was generally a coarse and uncultured person. But the main point I'm making here is that he apparently was right, and recently released documents vindicate him on that. But at the time in the 1950's, what he was saying was denied by the media and the entertainment industry. So we've got this gigantic decades-old myth about a guy who was supposedly seeing Commies where there allegedly were none, and ruining people for no reason other than to further a political career. The myth gained so much strength through repetition that a new term was coined - "McCarthyism", a term that incredibly is still in use by some uninformed people yet today. But the fact was that there actually were many Moscow-loyal, Stalinist-type, communists in media, entertainment, and even in sensitive areas of the government. And McCarthy was correct to point that out. Another item to add to the slowly growing list of things that were denied and later proven to be fact.

Informational "Official" Websites on the North American Union

2007-01-14T01:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a "short list" of URLs from official sources only - no "conspiracy sites" - on the NAU:

Concerning the proposed "Supercorridor":
http://www.nascocorridor.com/
http://www.nascocorridor.com/pages/about/along.htm
Looks like the building of this is already underway..........

Arizona State University's "North American Center for Transborder Studies":
http://www.asu.edu/clas/nacts/bna/
Getting us used to the idea of a NAU through "education"?

From the same site - links to many other official sites, including nascorridor.com:
http://www.asu.edu/clas/nacts/bna/gensit.html

Recently Michael Medved, the movie critic and political commentator, charged that the NAU and its enabling program SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America) were "Internet conspiracy theories". Just from the looks of what I've read online from the above sources - all official (not blogs or conspiracy sites) - it looks like something is already well underway and already beyond the talking and proposal stages. IMO, it looks like something is being slipped in "under the radar" so to speak, with the cover of "internet conspiracy theory" being used to buy time until its a done deal. What we might just have here is an actual case of a true conspiracy coming to light. I think this whole matter bears watching, and will keep you the reader posted on it............

North American Union moving from "Internet Conspiracy Theory" to Accepted Fact???

2007-01-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

Here's an item that I recently came across concerning the proposed North American Union that's been recently written about by Jerome Corsi, and which many people have written off as a conspiracy theory. A resolution has been recently introduced into Congress officially coming out against it - H.C.R. 487, introduced by Rep. Virgil Goode Jr., R-Va. You can read about it here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52230

I'm not saying that this one has been definitely proven beyond all doubt to be true, but apparently enough so to catch the eyes of our lawmakers. If what has been written about the proposed NAU is true, Congress and the American people will have been left out of the loop. Maybe another example of a so called "wacky conspiracy theory" turning out to be true, purposely so?????? By the time people wake up and smell the coffee, it will be a "done deal"???

List of Proven Conspiracies - from Wikipedia

2007-01-01T04:24:00.000-08:00

[This appears to have been removed from Wikipedia, where it originally was posted]

List of proven conspiracies

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cite This Source

This is a list OR INDEX of conspiracies considered proven to have existed or officially covered-up (and or later discovered) with or without newer evidence.

Included are events described by different meanings of the word conspiracy: an agreement between two or more natural persons to break the law (or have the law unconstitually changed) at some time in the future (civil conspiracy and criminal conspiracy); conspiracy in the sense of conspiracy theory; or actions undertaken in secret (and outside public legislative processes) to obtain some goal, usually understood with negative connotations.

1st century BC

63 BC The second Catiline conspiracy
Failed assassination of Cicero on the morning of November 7 and plans to take control of the government through arson and slaughter of the senators.
44 BC Caesar assassination plot
On March 15, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy that included his friend Brutus.

1600s
1605 The Gunpowder Plot
An attempt by a group of provincial English Catholic extremists to kill King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. Guy Fawkes Day is named after one of the (lesser) conspirators and is celebrated with fireworks. Some modern historians believe the plot may have been either orchestrated or allowed to run its course by the Protestant elite for propaganda value. See also: Popish Plot.

1700's
1763 Small pox infected blankets given to Native Americans
In response to the 1763 uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion, Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst suggested using smallpox as a weapon for ending the rebellion. In a series of letters to his subordinate Colonel Henry Bouquet, the two men discussed the possibility of infecting the attacking Indians with smallpox through gifts of blankets that had been exposed to the disease. Apparently unbeknownst to both Amherst and Bouquet, the commander at Fort Pitt had already attempted this very tactic. Although Amherst's name is usually connected with this germ warfare because he was the overall commander and because of his correspondence with Bouquet, evidence appears to indicate that the attempt was made without Amherst's prior knowledge. See Pontiac's Rebellion for references and details.

1800's
1810 to 1850 the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes by which African slaves in the United States escaped to freedom, with the aid of abolitionists. It consisted of clandestine routes, transportation, meeting points, and safe houses maintained by sympathizers. These individuals were organized into small groups who, for the purpose of maintaining secrecy, knew only of connecting "stations" along the route.
1865 The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln was murdered by John Wilkes Booth but Booth was involved in a larger conspiracy to kill Lincoln and several members of his cabinet.
1894 The Dreyfus affair
In 1894 Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was convicted of treason. Dreyfus was innocent; the conviction rested on false documents, and when officials realised this they attempted a cover up. The writer Émile Zola exposed the affair.
1894 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
Queen Lili'uokalani was selected as the successor to King Kalākaua by Kalākaua upon his election in 1874. During her brother's reign the monarchy was left impotent by the Bayonet Constitution of 1887. In 1893, American businessmen organized in response to an attempt by Lili'uokalani to subvert the 1887 constitution, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. American troops aboard the USS Boston landed in Honolulu to protect American lives and property, while Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A. Thurston's Committee of Safety, a 13 member council of businessmen, organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Lili'uokalani. The overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i and the subsequent annexation of Hawai'i are sometimes cited as examples of American imperialism.
1898-1913 Western Water Rights: Los Angeles vs. Owens Valley
The agent of the Bureau was a close friend of Eaton, so Eaton had access to inside information about water rights. Eaton bought land as a private citizen, hoping to sell it back to Los Angeles at a vast profit. Eaton lobbied Theodore Roosevelt and got the local irrigation system cancelled. Mulholland misled residents of the Owens Valley, by claiming that Los Angeles would take water only for domestic purposes, not for irrigation. By 1905, through purchases and bribery, Los Angeles purchased enough water rights to enable the aqueduct. The aqueduct was sold to the citizens of Los Angeles as vital to the growth of the city. However, unknown to the public, the initial water would be used to irrigate the San Fernando Valley, north of the city. A syndicate of investors (again, close friends of Eaton, including Harrison Gray Otis) bought up large tracts of land in the San Fernando Valley with this inside information. This syndicate made substantial efforts to the passage of the bond issue that funded the aqueduct including creating a false drought (by manipulating rainfall totals) and publishing scare articles in the Los Angeles Times. See California Water Wars.

1900's
1913 Federal Reserve Act
Claimed to have been written by Paul Warburg. Passed by quorum remaining as many left for Christmas break. Planned in secret on Jekyll Island some 3 years earlier1910. See among other sources "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin; Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
1919 Black Sox Scandal
During the 1919 World Series, Eight members of the Chicago franchise conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose games.
1930's National Crime Syndicate
1932 General Motors streetcar conspiracy
Before WWII, Los Angeles had the largest electric trolley system in the world. It is generally believed that General Motors, Firestone Tire and Rubber, Standard Oil, and National City Lines conspired to eliminate it. A federal court decided that the companies had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and each was "fined" the paltry sum of $5,000. Company officials were also found guilty and fined one dollar each.
1932 to 1972 Tuskegee Syphilis Study
U.S. Public Health Service monitors 399 poor blacks with syphilis and withholds their diagnosis from them. Partners and children (congenially) are subsequently infected.
1945 Nazi gold
The whereabouts of the Nazi regime's gold deposits are still unknown. See also PBS Frontline: Nazi Gold
1950 Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA (also known as MK-ULTRA) was the code name for a CIA mind-control research program lasting from the 1950s through the late 1960s. It was first brought to wide public attention by the U.S. Congress (in the form of the Church Committee) and a presidential commission (known as the Rockefeller Commission) (see Revelation below) and also to the U.S. Senate. Also mentioned in the Rockefeller Commission report are other operations where informed consent was waived or unethically ignored for other operations like Operation Whitecoat.
1953 Operation Midnight Climax
Operation Midnight Climax was an operation initially established by Dr. George Hunter White under the alias of Morgan Hall for the CIA. The project consisted of a web of CIA run brothels in San Francisco and New York. It was established in order to study the effects of LSD on unconsenting individuals after the supply of consenting patients ran out.
1953 Operation Ajax
Operation Ajax (officially TP-AJAX) was an Anglo-American covert operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran and Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and restore the exiled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to the throne as a dictator.
1954 Operation PBSUCCESS
Operation PBSUCCESS was a CIA-organized covert operation that overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in 1954.
1956 COINTELPRO
An FBI program originally begun to "increase factionalism, cause disruption and win defections" inside the Communist Party U.S.A., the program was soon enlarged to include the Socialist Workers Party, it quickly expanded to cover Black Liberation groups, Puerto Rican independence groups, the American Indian Movement, the Students for a Democratic Society & Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, antiwar, community, and religious groups. Its most infamous act was the assassination, carried out by the Chicago Police Department, of Black Panther Fred Hampton. The program was secret until 1971, when an FBI field office was burglarized by a group of left-wing radicals calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI.
1961 Bay of Pigs invasion
Cuban expatriates backed by the U.S. government attempted to invade Cuba at Cuba's Bay of Pigs in the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961. The expected urban revolt failed to materialise due to popular support for Castro. The Soviet Union had also warned Castro, who ordered executions and preemptive mass arrests of those thought likely to support a counter-revolution.
1961 The Cuban Project
The Cuban Project, also known as "Operation Mongoose" is the general name for CIA covert operations and plans initiated by President John F. Kennedy on November 30, 1961 which authorized aggressive covert terrorist operations against Communism in the Cuban Republic, including several assassination attempts against the Cuban head of state, Fidel Castro. The operation was led by Air Force General Edward Lansdale and came into being after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
The goal of The Cuban Project was to "help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime", overthrow its leader Fidel Castro, and aim "for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962". See also, "Operation Northwoods", proposed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which included terrorist actions against targets in the U.S. that were to be blamed on Cuba ("false flag" operations), which was never carried out.
1962 Operation Northwoods
Operation Northwoods or Northwoods was the code name for various proposals for false flag actions, including domestic terror attacks on U.S. soil, proposed in 1962 by senior U.S. Department of Defense leaders to generate U.S. public support for military action against Cuba. The proposal was presented in a document entitled "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba," a draft memorandum pdf) written by the Department of Defense (DoD) and Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) representative to the Caribbean Survey Group. The draft memo was presented by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13 with one paragraph approved, as a preliminary submission for planning purposes. However, McNamara rejected the proposal. The draft memorandum was declassified in recent years through a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive.
1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident
On August 4, 1964, North Vietnamese ships had allegedly attacked US destroyers, in what has come to be known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident which led to Lyndon B. Johnson to drastically increase troop levels in Vietnam. On November 30, 2005, the National Security Archive released hundreds of pages of documents revealing that President Johnson was shown only selective intelligence and that the August 4th attack in all likelihood never occurred.
1965 Suppressing Sarkhan
The followup book to The Ugly American by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick disappears from bookstores. Lederer claims the CIA did it because it revealed too much about then current operations in Thailand. It was finally released in 1977 under the title 'The Deceptive American'.
1967 to ? USS LIBERTY
Attack on USS Liberty (AGTR-5) LBJ called back rescue planes TWICE after Radio operator found a workaround jamming and called to carrier group for mayday. Israel used unmarked planes and boats to twice attack U.S.Navy listening post ship; jamming American radio channels as a "no flag"/false flag operation. Ruled officially a accident but some largely symbolic reparations were paid. Official coverup continues. The purpose was allegedly to suggest an attack on US by Egypt, in an attempt to get USA involved in the war, fighting on the Israeli side.
1969 Secret Bombing of Cambodia
Operation Menu was the codename for secret US bombing of alleged North Vietnamese strongholds and supply lines in Cambodia during the Vietnam War in 1969. The bombing, of a nation the US was not at war with, began with Operation Breakfast on March 17, 1969 and was conducted in secret until the New York Times broke the story on May 8, 1969.
1969 to 1982 Italian Strategy of tension
Conspiracy involving NATO and the Italian masonic lodge Propaganda Due
1970 to ? Air America & Operation Scatback
(linked to Mena Arkansas) Book By Terry Reed Contra/CIA contractor flight instructor:
Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA* (How
the Presidency was co-opted by the Central Intelligence Agency) *
1972 to 1974 Watergate scandal
Grand conspiracy involving the President of the United States.
1975-1999 Indonesian occupation of East Timor
U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had met President Suharto of Indonesia in Jakarta where Ford made it clear that "we will not press you on the issue" of the invasion and occupation of East Timor. Several U.S. administrations up to and including that of Bill Clinton did not ban arms sales to the Indonesian government, though the latter did eventually end U.S. support of Suharto's regime. The territory was declared the 27th province of Indonesia in July 1976 as Timor Timur. However, internationally its legal status was that of a "non-self-governing territory under Portuguese administration." See also Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media: A centerpiece of the film is a long examination into the history of The New York Times's coverage of Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor, which Chomsky claims exemplifies the media's unwillingness to criticize an ally and uses as an example of self-censorship in western media.
1981 to 1986 Iran-Contra
The Iran-Contra Affair (also known as "Irangate") was a mid-1980s political scandal in the United States. President Ronald Reagan's administration sold arms to Iran, an avowed enemy. At the time, Americans were being held hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a militant Shi'a organization loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini, and it was hoped that Iran would influence them to release the hostages; at the same time, Iran, which was in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War, could find few nations willing to supply it with weapons. The U.S. diverted proceeds from the sale to the Contras, anti-Communist guerrillas engaged in an insurgency against the left wing Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Both the sale of weapons and the funding of the Contras violated stated administration policy as well as legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress, which had blocked further Contra funding. * Incomplete without mentioning Mena Arkansas as a base of operations and the drugs for arms bartering * with among other connections, to The Bluegrass Conspiracy a book by Sally Denton detailing drugs and corrupton involving the commissioner of Kentucky State Police, (who resigned) officers and other officials as reported in newspapers.
1988 Nelson Bunker Hunt and Silver Thursday
Nelson Bunker Hunt declared bankruptcy and was convicted in August 1988 of conspiring to manipulate the market.
1990 Las Vegas American Coin Fixed Video Poker Conspiracy
Las Vegas Sun: November 06, 1997 Arrest made in '90 murder; warrant issued for second man "American Coin, at the time, was the state's fourth largest slot route operator, with more than 1,000 machines in various Las Vegas locations. The company was charged with altering 300 machines." "After Volk told authorities of the computer chip scam at American Coin, the company was closed and the gaming licenses of the owners -- Rudolph and Rudy M. LaVecchia and Frank Romano -- were surrendered in a deal that required them to pay a $1 million fine to the state in the February 1990 deal." Larry Volk, the programmer of the fixed computer chip (ROM), was found shot dead, execution style, after agreeing to testify in the case. See also Comdex '99: The mysterious death of Larry Volk, Las Vegas Review Journal: Harris case nothing compared to the big one that went away
1993 Assassination plot against President George H.W. Bush
On April 13, 1993, several Iraqi nationals were arrested in Kuwait and charged with plotting to assassinate former President Bush via car bomb during a visit to Kuwait. Later, a court in Kuwait convicted all but one of the defendants. On 26 June, 1993, President Clinton launched a missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for the attempted attack against Bush.
1993 WTC terrorist attack
In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a truck filled with explosives was planted by terrorists and detonated in the underground garage of the north tower, opening a 30m hole through 4 sublevels of concrete. Six people were killed and over a thousand injured.
According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to de-stabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks.
1994 Diamonds are forever?
In 1994 De Beers was charged by the United States Justice Department with Sherman Antitrust Act violations for conspiring to fix prices for industrial diamonds. On 14 July 2004 De Beers pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a $10 million fine. According to PBS: Frontline: The Diamond Empire: "EDWARD EPSTEIN, Author, "The Rise and Fall of Diamonds": Well, what I learned was that the diamond business wasn't a business of extracting, as I originally expected, something of enormous value and then simply seeing how much of this object you could get out of the ground and selling it. That was what the business appeared to be when I started my venture. But their real business was restricting what came out of the ground, restricting what was discovered, restricting what got cut, restricting what actually found its way into the retail market and, at the same time, through movies, through advertising, through Hollywood, through the manipulation of perceptions, creating the idea that there was this enormous demand for these shiny little objects that they seemed to have in abundant supply. So I wound up on this voyage of discovery starting off with the idea that there was this object of great value, and it was just a question of how many could you get out, and I wound up discovering it was just the opposite." See also Crater of Diamonds.
1995 The Bojinka Plot
The Bojinka plot refers to a three-part conspiracy: the plot to destroy 11 airliners on January 21 and 22, 1995; the plan to kill Pope John Paul II on January 15, 1995 during a papal visit to the Philippines; and the third part of this conspiracy was a plan to crash a plane into the CIA headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia and other buildings. The Bojinka plot was prevented on January 6 and 7, 1995.
1995 Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist attack on April 19, 1995, in which the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was destroyed, killing 168 people. The (Oklahoma) McCurtain Daily Gazette has reported that at least one member of the secret services and an informant for the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) had prior knowledge that the attack was about to take place, a charge which the FBI deny. The newspaper also alleges that the FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Section, as part of a top-secret undercover operation, may have indeed assisted the bombers in their plans as part of a failed sting operation, citing evidence given in a court case by a BATF informant and data published under the Freedom of Information Act as 'proof'.
Other reports point variously to the quick response of agents dressed in full 'mop-gear' clothing, as if pre-prepared for an explosion; the fact that the BATF offices (in the bombed building) were empty at the time of the explosion; FBI reluctance to release sensitive documentation relating to the case, and rumours of an SMS warning sent out to BATF staff as further 'evidence' of a major conspiracy. These reports are largely based on empirical evidence and circumstantial information, and remain unproven.
1995 to 2004 Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal
The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal is a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on behalf of Indian casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case, they secretly orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.

2000's
2001 Enron and Arthur Andersen
The company and its Big Five accounting firm conspired to commit accounting fraud. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.
2002 Las Vegas Venetian Rigged Drawing
The Venetian casino employees conspired to rig drawings. According to the Las Vegas Sun: July 15, 2004 Venetian contest rigger lectured by regulators: "Mok said he rigged the drawing because a high-roller he was hosting lost $5 million gambling and the employee "didn't want to see him go home empty-handed."" The Venetian agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle a 12 count complaint. "Board member Bobby Siller ... compared the additional damage inflicted by attempting to cover up the scheme with the trouble former President Richard Nixon brought upon himself during the Watergate burglary investigation." Four Venetian employees lost their licenses to work in the Nevada gaming industry but were quickly hired by casinos in other states. According to the Las Vegas Sun: "Michael French, the former senior vice president of operations, became the chief operating officer for the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino in Mescalero, N.M. Brian Parrish, formerly the vice president of marketing, became the marketing director for the same New Mexico tribal casino. The Mescalero Apache Tribe said they believed the involvement by French and Parrish in the scheme was more than offset by their wide-ranging experience. Don Richardson, another Venetian executive involved in the incident, surfaced as the director of operations at the Wildfire, a small casino owned by Station Casinos Inc. Station officials said the company's regulatory compliance department investigated the matter and determined that Richardson was suitable for the position."
2004 Secret CIA Prisons
A story by reporter Dana Priest published in The Washington Post of November 2, 2005, reported that "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement."[4]
The report contends that the CIA has a worldwide covert prison system with facilities in Asia, Eastern Europe, and in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The system is central to the agency's anti-terror role, and according to the report has been kept secret from government officials (including Congressional committees that oversee the CIA) through the agency's own efforts as well as cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
This conspiracy was proven in 2006 when President Bush admitted that indeed there are secret CIA prisons in Europe and elsewhere.
2005 Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
On November 23 a federal jury convicted Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a citizen of the United States, on nine counts, including conspiracy to assassinate the president, and conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy.
2005 DRAM price fixing
In October Samsung pled guilty to conspiring with other companies, including Infineon and Hynix Semiconductor, to fix the price of DRAM. Samsung was the third company to be charged in connection with the international cartel and was fined $300M. In October 2004 four executives from Infineon were sentenced to 4 to 6 months in prison and $250,000 in fines after agreeing to aid the U.S. Department of Justice with their investigation of the conspiracy.
2005 Bernard Ebbers
He was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the largest (to date) accounting scandal in U.S. history, as a result of WorldCom's false financial reporting, and subsequent 180 billion dollar loss to investors.

Conspiracy "theory" vs. actual conspiracies

2007-01-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

Another thing I'd like to clarify is that what I'm looking for are things that initially were considered "conspiracy theory". In other words, something that was considered not likely to be true, and in the realm of bizarre conjecture, which nowdays is what the term "conspiracy theory" appears to mean to most people. This involves denials and coverups - an attempt to discredit and shut down inquiry into an area of possibility, using ridicule and stereotyping. I want to know if there is anything that was at one time in this category, that later was proven to be factually true.

Some people have mentioned conspiracies that actually happened, such as military coups backed by the CIA, etc. but instances like this were in many cases never really disputed as being true - we knew they were true all along, we just didn't have all the facts and documentation at the time. I guess what it boils down to is the difference between "a conspiracy" and "conspiracy theory".

I am of the personal belief that many things are deliberately tagged as "wacky conspiracy theories" in an attempt to quash any meaningful investigation into them. A clever way of keeping something secret. In fact, I believe that this happens all the time. I'd just like to know how many of these actually were "outted" and found out to be true after all. And I am trying to compile an accurate list of all of them.

Things I would leave off of such a list would be:

1) The theories that haven't been proven (moon landing was a hoax, JFK assassination was a conspiracy, advance knowledge of Pearl Harbor, 9/11 was staged by our govt., voter fraud by electronic voting machine tampering, etc. - not saying that these are necessarily false, they just haven't been definitively proven to be true at this time)

2) Events that are clearly conspiracies or conspiratorial in nature, but were never really ever denied as being true, or claimed to have not happened (military coups, business price-fixing schemes, etc.)

E-mail add for any reader input

2006-12-30T05:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone wishing to contribute info on conspiracy theories that later turned out to be factually true (with valid cites and proper documentation of such) can be sent to me at:

trueconspiracies@hushmail.com

I will review all submissions for meeting the above mentioned criteria, and will give full credit to all that are published on this blog. I will, however, keep all identities and e-mail addresses confidential upon request of sender. All e-mail sent out by me from my Hushmail account is PGP encrypted for confidentiality, and filtered for security against viruses (I've been the victim of attacks in regard to both of these issues - that's why I don't use a POP-mail, ISP e-mail account anymore, with my real name).

I, as publisher of this blog, reserve the right to withhold publishing of any material that I deem off topic, potentially libelous, copyright infringing, or otherwise offensive.

All original material published on this blog that is of my own authorship is copyrighted, and may not be reproduced without my permission.

the Curmudgeon

From Wikipedia "Conspiracy Theory" category

2006-12-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

"Real conspiracies"

On some occasions particular conspiracy allegations turn out to be readily verifiable, as in the French government's attempted cover-up following Emile Zola's accusations in the Dreyfus Affair, or in the efforts by the Tsar's secret police to foment anti-Semitism by presenting The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as an authentic text.[18] Where such success is due to sound investigative methodology, it is clear that it would not exhibit many of the compromising features identified as characteristic of conspiracy theory, and would thus not commonly be considered a 'Conspiracy theory'. In the case of the 1971 revelation of the FBI's COINTELPRO counter-intelligence work against domestic political activists, it is not clear to what extent a 'conspiracy theory' involving government agents was either proposed or dismissed prior to the programme's factual exposure. [citation needed]
Some argue that the reality of such conspiracies should caution against any casual dismissal of conspiracy theory. Many "conspiracy theory" authors and publishers, such as Robert Anton Wilson and Disinfo, use proven conspiracies as evidence of what a secret plot can accomplish. In doing so, they attempt to rebut the assumption that conspiracies don't exist, or that any "conspiracy theory" is necessarily false. A number of true or possibly true conspiracies are cited in making this case; the Mafia, the Business Plot, MKULTRA, various CIA involvements in overseas coups d'état, Operation Northwoods, the 1991 Testimony of Nayirah before the US Congress, the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the General Motors streetcar conspiracy and the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate, among others.[citation needed]
The argument is often advanced that the non-existence of any given conspiracy is shown by the lack of leakers or whistleblowers. Given the success of the British government in getting thousands of people to keep the ULTRA secret -- and thereby ensuring that no reliable history of World War II could be published until the 1970s -- it is apparent that this is not necessarily a reliable indicator.[citation needed]Machiavelli, stated in The Discourses on Livy that conspiracies rarely achieve their objectives.

[Doesn't mean conspiracies don't exist - the Curmudgeon]

The word "conspiracy" needs to get back to it's original meaning

2006-12-27T15:29:00.000-08:00

I made an offhand comment to a Usenet newsgroup a few days back that many "conspiracy theories" put forward as such in the 1960s and 1970s had actually eventually been proven to be true.

I actually, believe it or not, got a few hostile responses from dudes who actually insisted that there has *never* been an instance, anywhere, any time, any place, of something that has been considered a "way out there, wacko conspiracy theory" that has been later proven to be actually correct and true.

I was taken somewhat aback by this, as there are ample evidences of this, apparently no one has taken the time to assemble it all into one place with all of the appropriate cites, etc.

Well, that is what I'm going to attempt to do here. I plan on having an email address that you can send info to if you'd like, and I myself will do some research and will post my findings here.

For the time being, here is a post from Usenet discussion newsgroups that was in answer to the question "Has there ever been any conspiracy theories that later turned out to be the true version of events?" It lists some of the things that were at one time dismissed as "conspiracy theory" but were later proven to be true, upon release of later information/documentation.

One thing that is not mentioned in this post is the myth that has grown up over the years around "McCarthyism". Recently released KGB documents and other Russian documents show that McCarthy was basically correct in most of his charges in the 1950s, and that the Rosenbergs really were spies and compromised our security in the 1950s.

Anyway, many people have vested interests in keeping the truth away from the public. Many times today's "conspiracy theories" end up being tomorrows facts.

Here's the Google post responding to the question "Have there been any conspiracy theories that were later proven to be true, and a true version of the facts?"

Dear dtnl,
This is a bit of a problem, because once it is out and clear, it isnot a conspiracy theory anymore. Most of the theories I've collectedare quite familiar, nothing up Pink's alley of 15th century'sconspiracies.
Some of the most prominent political scandals in US history began as aconspiracy theory and turned out to be true; Wikipedia(http://www.wikipedia.com/) lists some of these:
"The United States Department of Defense Information Awareness Office(IAO) has many similarities to conspiracy theories. First, its avowedpurpose is to gather and correlate information on ordinary citizensfor the purpose of predicting terrorism and other crime. Second, itslogo depicted the eye in the pyramid, a symbol associated withIlluminati and Masonic representations of power or divinity, casting abeam over the globe of the Earth. This has since been changed. Theoriginal logo is still widely available on the internet, however.Lastly, the name "Iao" is a Gnostic word for God, used in the GoldenDawn and Thelema among others. [10]
The Mafia was essentially completely unknown to outsiders until JoeValachi revealed them in 1963.
Declassified papers as well as legal inquiries have shown that the CIAwas involved in many coup d'??tat, including the overthrow of JacoboArbenz Guzman and Salvador Allende as well as into terrorist action,for instance in Italy
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the CIA and the U.S. Army operated aresearch program into mind control, codenamed MKULTRA. In thisprogram, CIA agents gave LSD and other drugs to unwitting andunconsenting victims, in an effort to devise a working "truth serum"and/or mind-control drug. MKULTRA was uncovered by Presidential andCongressional research committees in 1975, and discontinued at thattime. Many prominent writers and drug figures were first exposed toLSD under this program, including Ken Kesey of the Merry Pranksters,Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Baba Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) andfuture 'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski. A source on this is the book"Acid Dreams" by Bruce Shalin and Martin A. Lee.
ECHELON is a communications interception network operated by theUnited States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.It is designed to capture telephone calls, fax and e-mail messages.New Zealand has openly admitted the existence of Echelon, and theEuropean Union commissioned a report on the system.
In the 2003 Iraq War, Iraqi resistance was strong at first and thencollapsed suddenly. A conspiracy theory emerged in Iraq and elsewherethat there had been a safqah" ?? Arabic for: a secret deal ? ? betweenthe US and the Iraqi military elite, wherein the elite were bribed tostand down. This conspiracy theory was ignored or ridiculed in the USmedia.In late May, 2003, General Tommy Franks, who had been the head of theUS forces in the conflict, confirmed in an interview with Defense Newsthat the US government had paid off high-level Iraqi militaryofficials and that they had stated that "I am working for you now".How important this was to the course of the conflict was not entirelyclear at the time of this writing (May 24, 2003).
Operation Northwoods, a CIA plot to commit acts of apparent terrorismand blame them on Cuba to encourage support for a war, was longconsidered to be nothing but a conspiracy theory ? until the project'sdocuments were declassified and published.
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. For aperiod of 50 years, the US Government used some members of the blackpopulation of a town in Alabama to observe the effects of untreatedsyphilis. The participants were not asked to participate and were nottold they were being untreated for their syphilis.
The US Federal Reserve lends money to the government at interest. Whenthis happens, money floods the market, and creates the "hidden tax" ofinflation. This scheme has had similar effects with the previousnational banks, and been predicted by conspiracy theories prior to itsimplementation in 1913. Also, although the word "federal" is used, theUS Government does not own the Federal Reserve and has limited controlof its operations.
The Bilderberg Group, an annual convention of Western political andeconomic elites, actually does exist. It is thought of as a modern-dayIlluminati-style conspiracy by some, where persons with power discussand arrange control of the world."
Martyn Jones also considers other as a true conspiracies, mostdistinctively Watergate (Washington Post on Watergate:<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/front.htm>; "Watergate.net" <http://www.watergate.info/>), but also
"British Premiere Margaret Thatcher ordered the Royal Navy warshipthat had patrolled the coast of The Falklands since the 60s tostand-down immediately prior to the islands invasion by an Argentineanexpeditionary force".
"Although many juvenile republicans and arm-chair supporters stillscoff at the idea that the Clintons were the target of a vastconspiracy, overwhelming material evidence and the testimonials ofmany participants on all aides indicates otherwise." (SOURCE: MartynJones, <http://www.newsgarden.org/columns/martycolumns2.shtml> ;However, I would say that "Monicagate" in itself *is* a conspiracyturned out to be true: who would think the president would do such athing?)
One of the most fun people to have conspiracies about, that in turnwould turn out to be absolutly true is Imelda Marcos. You have toworship that woman:
- Yes, she did try to have a porn film festival in Manila and calledthe Cardinal "gay" because he opposed it;
- Yes, she did send the Filippino secret security forces to beat upthe Beatles at the Manila Airport, because the fab-four did not wantto meet her after their show in the Philippines;
- Yes, she did have so many shoes;
I get all of that (and many other unbelievable stories about theMarcoses: he made up his record in the underground against theJapanese occupation, for example) from a book, not from the Internet:James Hamilton-Paterson, "America's Boy" (Granta).
Still in Asia, this article claims to have another, made-in-Seoulreal-life conspiracy:Aidan Foster-Carter, "North Korea's missiles: just so convenient",Asia Times January 09, 2001<http://www.atimes.com/koreas/CA09Dg01.html>
I can't verify the validity of the claims made in Asia Times, becauseI am not that acquinted with the story.
Another claims of "no smoke without fire" is made by another reputablebody, the Canadian CBC:Fifth Estate, Conspiracy Theories (regarding 9/11)<http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/> This site deals mostly with the claims on Bush-Saudi connections, andclaims that although the theories continue to be just that - theoriesand not facts - there are some supporting evidences.
However, I could add one more things that was also found to be true(thought I am not sure how much of a conspiracy it has been):
The FBI established and operated COINTELPRO, designed to monitor andsabotage the operations of social movements deemed "subversive"(See Prof. David Cunningham's book "There's Something Happening Here"U. California Press about it; and see his homepage:<http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/sociology/cunningham.html>);
I hope this answered your question. There are probably some otherevents that people consider as a "conspiracy theory" and were found tobe true; others would claim that by definition, a conspiracy theorycannot be found to be true (but cannot be debunked either), becausethen the whole conspirative tone would disappear. My search strategywas to search for the term "conspiracy theory" with other terms likelyto appear in the text such as "to be true". I also searchedSnopes.com, but all of the conspiracy theories mentioned there arelabled as "false".